Wednesday, November 16, 2011

2011 Xmas Walk -- Part Two

Hello and welcome to Part Two of my 2011 Christmas Walk. If you missed Part One, you might want to scroll down. It's in that Post that I describe what the Christmas Walk is and give a little history of my home.

This is the outside of my house. It is built on a hill and has a field stone foundation and covered in red brick. If you look to the far left of the picture where a Christmas Tree is lit up, that's the addition that was built about 6 years ago which doubled the square footage of the house. To advertise the Christmas Walk, the local newspaper takes a picture of the home and writes a story about it for the local paper. I was so pleasantly surprised to read that the author described my home as a 'Christmas Village Home'. I never thought of it that way before, but after I looked at the picture in the paper, I could see why she came to that conclusion. She wrote " One cannot go shopping and see Christmas Village Homes on display not get in the Christmas Spirit. The same is true of the Johnson home First of all, as one approaches this house what one is looking at is a life-sized replica of a Christmas Village Home all decorated for the holidays."

This is the front door. It leads into the dining room. I don't decorate much outside because I hate the cold. My husband put white lights on the small cherry tree outside the front door and he hung Icicle Lights from the top of the porch. I put garland around all the doorways, the porch railings, and more lights.



I did this winter flower arrangement with fake flowers. Normally this is the spot where I put my annuals in the spring. It's located on a wall next to the front door.




This is the side porch. The door opens to the entry way of the sun room addition balcony. The church gave us a free live tree to use for the event, and since I have a wood stove, I decided to put it outside. I flocked it, then added pine cones and some cheap snowflake and icicle ornaments from Walmart. The presents underneath the tree are 'fake'. They are just empty boxes wrapped in pretty paper and tied with white bows. I have a winter snowman pillow on the rocking chair with a pair of ice skates slung over the chair back.















In my last post I described that I took 20 yards of red satin and swagged it across my sun room window, but I don't have a picture of that. I will have to take one and post it later. By the time I get home from work it is dark, so it will have to wait till I have a day off. It was one of those ideas that came to me as I lay in bed one night brainstorming about other ways I could decorate the house with a big 'wow' factor. I've always struggled decorating my Sun room for the holidays, because in most rooms I just add 'greenery'. Well, this room doesn't need more greenery with all the plants already in it. So then I thought, what about fabric? But then I was worried about the expense, and I found this red sparkly costume satin on sale at JoAnn's Fabrics and Crafts for only $1.99 a yard! 10 yards comes on one bolt, so all I had to do was sew the two ends together and wa-la I had my 'wow' factor I was looking for! I added a big green bow made with the same type of fabric on each garden hanger, and then finished it off with gigantic bells that you can also find at JoAnn's. Here's a close up for you:










There are 10 windows in the sun room, and in each window on a suction cup hangs a little wreath. Here is a close up of one of them. They are all decorated the same. I love birds, so I have a 'bird theme' going on with my Christmas Decorations, and in my Craft Room.













This is a view of the sun room as you descend the staircase.













Now for some detail shots of my kitchen. My kitchen is very small, but for most visitors, one of their favorite rooms in the house for it's very 'cute'. It's decorated in blue and white, and I have loads and loads of blue and white china given to me by loving friends all on display in the room.


One of my all time favorite ways to decorate is with books. I love attractive book covers and love to display books on easels or lay them down to prop up pictures and nic nacs. The next two pictures show how I used 'Christmas Cookie' Books as decorations, simply by propping them up on an easel:









































This is my cooking area, my husband built the hutch surrounding the stove. On top I put a Christmas Village, and inside each nook is something 'xmasy': Christmas plates, Christmas wood words, berries, candles, etc.














This is an area above my sink. I put garland right above the sink, and filled my nooks with blue and silver Christmas berries. The yellow pitcher vase is filled with glittered white hydrangeas. And if your wondering about the teapot on the left and the silverware on the right, those are wind chimes. In the spring/summer when the window is open and the wind comes through, it moves the chimes ever so gently creating such a lovely sound.































My downstairs bathroom is impossible to photograph because it is so small. There's just room for the tiniest of sinks and a toilet. In fact, I don't think a very large could even fit in this bathroom. Anyhow, this is a bookshelf above the toilet. The room is decorated with angels year round, so all I have to do for Christmas is add some glittered flowers. The angels already make it Christmasy.
























This is the small sink. I simply added a scented candle and some Christmas towels for the season.



























This is what the dining room looks like from the kitchen. The living room is in the right background, and the office is in the left background.





















A view of the living room from my dining room. I've redecorated this room three times since purchasing the house. This is my favorite design so far. I love the color combo of blue and brown.


















Well I hope you enjoyed hearing about my Christmas Walk. I will post pics yet of those sun room windows so you can see the window treatment, and I still plan on posting more detailed pictures and descriptions of my new Craft Room next week sometime. I know all you crafters out there are really interested in that! I just got my THIRD thank you card today for allowing my home to be showed on the Christmas Walk, and the lady who wrote it said 'All the women were envious of your craft room'. That seemed to be the highlight of the day! Every woman seems to want her own space to create. I know I did, and I couldn't be happier with the way mine turned out. Thanks to my husband.


Have a great day! Amy
























5 comments:

  1. Oh, Amy.... your house looks so gorgeous! I just had the chance to go back to your part one, and read both posts. What an honor, to be part of something like the Christmas Walk! I can't believe you are already so beautifully decorated, AND are managing to keep up with all of your papercrafting activities! You are amazing, my friend....would love to have you come decorate here! I'm SO eager to see more photos! Hugs...

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  2. All I can say is WOW!!!! Absolutely beautiful thanks for the tour : )

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  3. Gosh, wish you lived closer. I would have loved to been on the tour to see your beautiful home and decorations IRL! Thanks for sharing the photos.

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  4. Amy, your house is just gorgeous! It's the type of house I have always dreamed of living in. Your decorations make it all the more beautiful!

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  5. Hi Amy, I am a little late commenting, but just wanted to say I absolutely love your house! I love your decorating style, and such great ideas to use christmas cookie books as decorations. Just beautiful and I can see why they called your home a Christmas Village Home.
    Absolutely love it! Thank you so much for sharing!

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